My plan all along has been to try potty training Elise over spring break, and if she wasn’t ready, we would have the summer. Well last Thursday when I picked Elise up from school, I was greeted with the message that Elise had asked to go potty and had used the potty twice. So what’s a mommy to do? I had to see what there was to this baby asking to go potty. I got her all the appropriate doggy accoutrements (Disney dog character panties and beagle potty seat) and decided to make a go of it on Sunday and today, Monday. I have one word to describe this experience – exhausting.

Here is my experience via Twitter:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14

Momentous Day. I picked Elise up from school, she said, “I potty!” with a big smile. Peer pressure works, her friends are doing it. 3:44 PM Jan 14th from Echofon

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16

My mission today, buy Elise all the accoutrements she needs for potty training. Should make for a fun filled 3 day weekend. 7:18 AM Jan 16th from Echofon

DAY 1, SUNDAY, JANUARY 17

2 hours in to potty training day 1. Elise loves the potty, but prefers to pee on the floor when I’m not looking. Then announces it, “uh oh.” 9:45 AM Jan 17th from Echofon

Success! Five accidents and one nap later, Elise said, “pee pee” and went. Now, if we could just keep repeating the success part… 1:33 PM Jan 17th from Echofon

Our success was fleeting. Elise is on her 9th pair of panties post nap, making a total of 14 panties. I think we need to mop the floor. 5:00 PM Jan 17th from Echofon

Correction, now 15 panties, all in a day’s work 5:06 PM Jan 17th from Echofon

And 16 and I thought 28 pairs might be too many, ha. 5:20 PM Jan 17th from Echofon

RT @scottmcclellan: What advice do you give to a toddler pottytraining? “Let go and let God,” & “Let my pee-pee go!” haven’t worked. // LOL 6:00 PM Jan 17th from Echofon

Well, 19 panties and 11 hours later, we called it quits on day 1 of potty training (bath time), but tomorrow is another day… 6:26 PM Jan 17th from Echofon

So bottom line — if a girl is asking to go pee, you have to listen to her and see what she will do even if she’s 19 months old. about 22 hours ago from Echofon

DAY 2, MONDAY, JANUARY 18

Yeah for progress. 3 accidents and one “successful” poop in the potty. I won’t go into details, but Elise and I counted it as a success. about 8 hours ago from Echofon

Won’t you all be glad when I go back to work tomorrow and stop talking about poop and pee…my how life has changed. about 8 hours ago from Echofon

This potty business is hard work. Elise needed to let loose and celebrate her post nap potty success. http://twitpic.com/yptqr about 2 hours ago from Echofon

Day 2: Pre-nap peed on floor after I took her & one poop in potty. Post-nap everytime finished peeing in the potty, started on me or floor 41 minutes ago from Echofon

In summary, Elise needs more time. If it was spring break she probably would have gotten it; we will just have to wait and see.